windy city chronicles

2007-08-30T19:41:00.000-07:00

Looking forward to the great Kenny Rogers concert on Friday, it sure brings back a lot of memories listening to his songs. I remember getting interested in Race cars and ofcourse Diane Lane when I was a little kid and saw 'Six Pack' for the first time. It sure will be fun meeting him too in person. The best part is that I will be up close to Kenny because I'll be covering the event for a publication. I'll try to post some pics on Saturday.

2007-08-29T21:10:00.000-07:00

Cars that dreams are made of, saw these babies today at a sports car auction, very nice indeed.

2007-08-24T21:56:00.000-07:00

Some Pics from the Miller Light event Coverage. Nothing too glamorous, although covering events like this one I thought it would have a little bit more pizzazz but nothing fancy schmancy.

2007-08-24T21:50:00.000-07:00

The most uncomfortable car I have ever driven in my life the Pontiac Solstice, ouch, my legs were sore after driving it on 50 miles. My 1991 Mazda Miata is more spacious and ergonomically designed. 2 thumbs down.

2007-01-01T20:28:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2006-12-21T21:13:00.000-08:00

My first digital camera the Sony DSC-S30 which I bought in 1999 is still going strong, believe it or not its only 1.3 megapixel which doesn't mean a lot in this day and age but still its out of this world, it is always with me where ever I go. This has been the most dependable camera that I have ever had, dropped it about a dozen times and it still works fine. Check out the 2nd pic of my Xircom Pcmcia card, it was taken in the micro mode, f-2.8,shutter 2 seconds, distance 1 inch from my laptop. The picture quality is unfrickining believable. For point and shoot I will definitely recommend Sony products no doubt.

2006-12-21T15:50:00.000-08:00

Move over Ipod your match is finally here, being a great fan of the radio I can't resist but drool over this technological advancement, radio and mp3 player.

2006-12-19T15:35:00.000-08:00

I just had a 'steak ala mark', yes it is a dish I named after myself, its something out of this world, I'll be posting pics of the ingredients and how you can actually make one, its a bachelors dish for those lucky ones that have a wife or a girlfriend maybe you can have them make it for you. You must be a meat lover to enjoy this.
Yum Yum ..................

2006-12-18T17:25:00.000-08:00

1. Celebrities I have met ? Too many to list

2. Celebrities I will meet ? Only pics can tell, I don't BS, can't stand BS'ters either, thats why when I meet a certain group of people that sit there and brag about stuff I just look at them and think man what the hell are you talking about, I have been there and done that 10 times over.

3. Biggest celebrities I have met ? Still too many but Arnold, Stallone, DeNiro, and Costner are my number ones.

In my job the infatuation of meeting a celebrity is limited to only 10-15 minutes except when you meet Beyonce or the Pussycat Dolls, even after that they are nothing but subjects in my Nikon D2x viewfinder. Ofcourse having a nice conversation is limited to them asking me what media I belong to or me asking their permission to take a photo with them. Always look out for the bodyguards of some celebrities, man some are the rudest and most vulgar sons of &*^%)'s I have encountered. The bodyguards sometimes think I'm some sort of a paparazzi but infact I'm not, I get hired by some of the biggest publications to cover events, its good maybe because I don't kiss ass. I do my work and get the #$%@ out. The coolest thing is you meet a celebrity who has played so many diverse roles for eg, Rambo to Rocky etc and in real life when you meet him he is about a foot and a half shorter than you. All in all meeting celebrities is good, you see where they came from and because of their hard work and perseverence what stage they have reached in their career. Me I'm a media junkie, was a model, studied journalism, became a news anchor in the gulf for a few years (muzeea al-akhbar) hey it wasn't CNN but atleast 10 million people in the gulf knew me , moved to States and still in the media. I like behind the camera approach, its more eye opening. I always try to help out other up and coming media students. My number one rule, keep your eyes open, and mouth shut, you will go a long way.Never criticise anybody but take critisicm, you will learn more. Keep yourself up to date with all current news and affairs. I guess that's basically it.

2006-12-18T17:10:00.000-08:00

WOW, just got the list of all the cool concerts and celebrity events that I'll be covering, can't wait for the dates, I can't post all the pics of some issues but I'll definitely post pics where I'm in it. Man I got the best job in the world. I can't believe it from the deserts of hijaz to the world of pizzazz.

2006-12-17T19:29:00.000-08:00

This is my work station at home, my pride and joy.

(2) pc's (each has 4 gig ram, intel core duo processors, 2tb hard drives)

(4) external dvd/cd drives

(2) 10 in 1 multi-card readers.

(1) 21 inch monitor for video

(1) 17 inch lcd for photos

(1) Toshiba laptop

Notice a part of a fan showing in the bottom , that's used to cool the pc's when I'm editing videos.

Messy I think but hey for a single guy what do you expect.

2006-12-17T12:27:00.000-08:00

Feeling under the weather today, its about 40F , cloudy and grey, just like London. Did some work at the lab to get the christmas orders through in time. I hate days like this, I think I'm just going to hang around for a while and surf the net, see what the world is talking about.

2006-12-16T13:17:00.000-08:00

Bought these shoes at the New Balance store for $57 about a month ago. At first I thought it was too much for a pair of shoes but man are they comfortable, they have some ABZORB technology in them that really takes the pressure of your feet, I needed something like this because of all those long hours of shoots, at the studio or concert, stylish, sporty, and comfy. Yep every penny was worth it. definitely recomended. You got to try to experience it.

2006-12-14T20:41:00.000-08:00

I'm a great fan of the Pussycat Dolls, just found out that I'll seeing their concert here, can't wait . Nicole is awesome. Nicole if you see this, I love you. Your biggest fan.......

2006-12-13T20:08:00.000-08:00

My day is not over till I take my radio to my bed and listen to this radio station. They talk about everything, its extremely informative, educational, and fun.

2006-12-13T19:52:00.000-08:00

My breakfast today, 2 large slices of a cheese pizza topped with parmessan cheese and crushed red pepper and a large 20oz glass of Coca-Cola.

2006-12-13T19:48:00.000-08:00

This is a common sight in major departmental stores, the photo kiosks, people just shove their camera memory cards inside them and print their photos out, whatever happened to the good old days of going to a photographer to print them. This has really taken a toll out of the major photo printers. I don't mind it because when I need some quick prints I doo the same. Why am I even posting it ? Oh...just to get my 2 cents worth of input.....

2006-12-12T23:28:00.000-08:00

Today was mildly cold, wet, and foggy, hey this is Chicago. One moment its nice and sunny and 20 mintues later it could be a snow storm.

2006-12-12T16:41:00.000-08:00

Here is nice link to all the gulf music that you can get your hands on, I tried my best to get them from different bloggers in Kuwait AND i FINALLY GOT IT, WWW.OZQ8.COM
Their music selection just took me back to those wonderful nights in the royal khaimahs at janadriyah, having a blast at the haflas, eating the kabsah, and enjoying the tea.
The wonderful starry night of the desert, the quiteness of the desert, Ahh those were the days............

2006-12-12T16:16:00.000-08:00

I was going through my CD archives when I thought about uploading some pics to flickr, as you can see I shoot just about everything, being a photographer is a great thing, the best thing is I get paid to do this. I love my job. For all you wanna bees it takes a lot of determination, patience, a keen eye, a super computer, one heck of a photo software, and experience (oh did I forget to say also 'who you know' ) to make it in the main stream world of photography, just because you have a nice camera doesn't make you a photographer.

I also love beautiful things like cars, well I really shoot a lot of local events, concert, fashion shows, conventions, modeling portfolios etc etc.

Being a celebrity photographer has its perks too, VIP entrances everywhere, I'm not a papparazzi though, I don't hunt down celebrities, meeting famous people is really exciting at first but after 15 minutes they are just a subject in my viewfinder. My favourite camera is the Nikon D70s, though my D2x is awesome but I like to keep that for my really special events.

Check out some of my work here, please leave a comment I love to get other peoples input.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chicagolanddigital

2006-12-10T12:11:00.000-08:00

Can't wait for Rocky 6 to come out, been a gr8 fan of Stallone since I was a kid.

I still want to kick myself in the ass for not having my camera with me when I recently met him in Chicago, I asked this one photographer from a local newspaper if he could get me a copy of the pic he took with me in it, he wanted 200 dollars for it, Kiss my ^&* , I said.

Hey thats bad and unethical knowing full well that I'm in the media business too, I would never do that to a collegue, hope his d2h freezes up on him on a breaking news story.

2006-12-08T20:24:00.000-08:00

Just took a self portrait with the Treo. I haven't received the aluminum case for it though, sometimes usps is a little slow. I prefer ups though.

2006-12-07T14:53:00.000-08:00

No offense to Albert Broccoli or EON productions, this was the worst James Bond movie I have seen in my entire life, the whole movie is about 007 playing poker, for what cause I have no ideas, who plays $150 million dollar stakes, REALTY CHECK, the action was good but unbelievable, something out of spiderman or batman movies, no reality at all. Atleast with Sean, Roger, & Pierce you could feel the action , the story line, and the pizzazz. Every teenager wanted to be 007 ofcourse in fantasy land. This James Bond looked too sissy. I'm glad I didn't spend a penny to see this movie, thanks to the internet. I did however enjoy the steak burrito, popcorn, 2 cans of pepsi. Craig Daniels go back to stage acting. No offense to Craig Daniels. You look good but please dont say, this is Bond -- James Bond......................................

2006-12-05T21:41:00.000-08:00

Just got confirmation for my Palm's aluminum case, it should be here in a couple of days.

2006-12-05T15:33:00.000-08:00

Twisted my leg, ouch it hurts, I guessed I missed one step to many.
Left leg below the knee is swollen, did a quick wrap with some heat medicine, should be one in a few days.

2006-12-05T11:36:00.000-08:00

My Palm Treo 600 and the image from its VGA camera (its a photo of the 2007 BMW 645i. I also ordered an aluminum case for my Treo, looks all scuffed up from keeping in the my pocket.

2006-12-05T11:22:00.000-08:00

This is the beautiful city of Chicago. I was on my way to work downtown when I snapped these photos with my Kodak DX-7590

2006-11-16T22:34:00.000-08:00

The Marine (Review)

Definitely 2 thumbs down, movie had a plot that was too predictable. First of all John Cena is not Rambo. It seems like everybody here wants to be a moviestar. Stick with wrestling buddy. If you want to read a detailed review go here.

2006-11-16T22:30:00.000-08:00

Getting ready for a fashion show this Saturday.
Actually I'm the photographer for the show so I will try to post some pics from it.

2006-11-16T22:12:00.000-08:00

What was I into in 1984?

I came across on a blog somewhere where the author was trying to figure out was he was into in 1978, well I don't know about that but in 1984 I was 16 years old. My favourites at that time were the Archie comics, MAD comics, Def Leppard, Kiss, Black Sabbath, Rick Springfield, Grendizer, Adnan Wa Lina, Miami Vice, collecting as many cassette tapes as I could, Karate Kid headband, baggy pants, and like any other kid growing up in the gulf dreaming of owning a Datsun 280ZX, oh did I forget Knight Rider.

23 years later I am still collecting Mad comics, just bought the complete season of Knight Rider, the Jefferson, Good Times etc etc etc.

2006-11-16T16:25:00.000-08:00

Humphrey Bogart for ever.

2006-11-15T22:12:00.000-08:00

Jack Black reminds me of me, I'm a great fan of his work, all his movies rock.

2006-11-15T21:42:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Mark of 248am, he inspired me to start blogging , and I promise to bring you a PHOTO every day for the next 361 days.

I have got some big shows with Madonna and Phil Collins coming up , lets see if I can get some onstage pics to post here.

For starts this is me today. Hey still not bad. Actually I will be posting some onstage pics of Twista, Baby Bash, Lupe Fiasco, Nina Sky, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, and Beyonce soon.

2006-11-15T15:25:00.000-08:00

Hello my fellow bloggers.
Today was a pretty long day, cold, windy, and slightly snowy, slipping and sliding to work and back , nothing glamorous. Maybe something good will happen tommorow. Well if you live in the great city of Chicago, IL it's normal. This is the original windy city.

2006-11-14T22:26:00.000-08:00

My favourite bloggers
248am
Unaiza

2006-11-14T19:45:00.000-08:00

Morons never cease to amaze me. This is a guy I saw that tried to back up on an exit ramp that wasn't even completed. Man what was he thinking, I'm glad he didn't accelerate too much. Then he gets out of the car and tries to hold it down :)

2006-11-14T19:36:00.000-08:00

JAMES BOND
The New James Bond Movie.
I have been a great fan of the James Bond franchise, I remember all of the movies, heck I can even quote the scenes. The best James bonds in my opinion were Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and ofcourse Pierce Brosnan. Timothy Dalton and George Lazenby were both flops and we know that. This is guy I'm not too sure would succeed, I don't know I could be wrong but he doesn't have the James Bond pizzazz. I don't think he will be a good James Bond, can't wait to see the movie though. Stay tuned for my review.

2006-11-14T13:52:00.000-08:00

This is the second time I started the blog, I don't know what happened the last time I accidentaly deleted it, oops. I will be more careful this time and hopefully I can post every chance I get.

2006-11-13T22:50:00.000-08:00

What's in my bag?

I never know when I have to face a breaking news situation or report to a scene.
Toshiba Satellite 4090xdvd 2ghz, 80 gig harddrive, cd/dvd rom
Nikon D70s with battery back & SB-800 flash + 4 gig toshiba microdrive cf card
Xircom 56k/100lan card
Dazzle media card adapter
Palm Treo 600, GPS enabled
Swiss army multi tool
1 pack of Wrigleys doublemint gum
Sony SRF-M37V radio receiver (am-fm-wb-tv)
Patek Phillipe watch
Dynex Pro Headphones
Diary for quick note jotting
Space Pen Silver
Marlboro Ultra-lights 100
Bic lighter
Vaultz Hard Carry case.